Day: December 24, 2018

Governor-Elect Bill Lee Joins Christmas Celebrations of Middle Tennessee Grassroots Conservatives

Laura Baigert

MURFREESBORO and NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Governor-Elect Bill Lee joined middle Tennessee grassroots conservatives, his base, at Christmas celebrations of groups with their hubs in Murfreesboro and Nashville. The two groups called “Sentinels,” originally organized around the Heritage Action for America (HAFA) model of activism. Personal relationships with federal legislators are leveraged with tools like calls to Congress, Twitter and letters to the editor, using data and solutions from Heritage Foundation, so that Sentinels can hold their representatives accountable. “Action” being an integral part of the groups’ very existence, Sentinel activities extend deeper into state and local arenas as well. With 2018 being an election year, for one, and a number of other issues arising, it was a particularly busy year for Sentinels. While the Murfreesboro and Nashville Sentinel groups are separate, they are not so much distinct as there is a fair amount of overlap, and the Nashville group could be considered a more recent extension of the more established and longstanding Murfreesboro group. As independent thinkers and activists, it was not a group decision to endorse a particular candidate for governor in the August 2018 Republican primary. Without any obvious exceptions, however, Sentinels were behind Bill Lee and demonstrated…

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Commentary: The Fed Steps On Middle America Again

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by CHQ Staff   President Trump’s pro-growth economic policies have put America back to work, and for over a year drove the stock market to new highs, boosting the personal wealth of millions of middle income Americans, then came the Federal Reserve’s inexplicable decision to raise interest rates again. Since the Fed began talking up regular interest rate hikes, the stampede by investors erased about $5 trillion in value from global stock and bond markets in October alone. Overall, the loss is estimated by some to be as much as $8 trillion. According to CNBC’s post at Thursday’s market close: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 440 points, bringing its two-day declines to more than 700 points and its 5-day losses to more than 1,700 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent as technology stocks underperformed. The Nasdaq Composite also fell 1.5 percent, into bear market territory amid big losses in Amazon and Apple. Companies in the S&P 500 have lost a total of $2.39 trillion in market cap this month. The Cboe Volatility Index — one of the market’s best gauges of marketplace fear — rose above 30. As our friends at NewsMax noted, it’s exceedingly rare the Federal…

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Commentary: Kurt Schlichter and America’s New ‘Militant Normals’

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by Julie Kelly   Kurt Schlichter is funny. Really funny. Unlike so many commentators on the Right—especially those staid NeverTrump harpies—Schlichter has a wry, cutting sense of humor that animates his radio and television interviews, his Townhall columns, and his latest book, Militant Normals. The book expands on what Schlichter—a retired Army colonel and California-based trial attorney—has been saying about the Trump era for more than three years: The election of Donald Trump was as much about an uprising by the “normals” against the ruling elite as it was about the man himself. In Trump, millions of Americans found a leader who, for the first time in years, actually spoke to their deep concerns about the current condition of the country they fiercely love. “The Normals chose Trump. And it was not okay with the Smart Set.” While Republicans and Democrats spent the past decade jockeying for props on global issues like climate change and peddling the myth of unbounded “free trade” between nations, working-class voters became increasingly nervous about the rise of illegal immigration; the unseen and ignored toll of international trade agreements; a deadly tide of illicit drugs; a fixation on unwinnable foreign conflicts; and the breakdown of trusted institutions from trade unions…

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Mystery Mueller Case Reaches The Supreme Court

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by Kevin Daley   An unnamed foreign corporation appears to be fighting a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Supreme Court. The unidentified entity filed an application for a stay with Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit turned down their request to quash a subpoena. Saturday’s application was the first time a matter arising from the Mueller probe has reached the high court. Very little is known about the case, which apparently arose on Aug. 16 in the Washington, D.C. federal trial court. The entire matter has proceeded under seal, meaning all filings are closely held by court officials, hearings take place in secret, and attorneys are forbidden from discussing details in public. One of the few documents made public in the case was released on Dec. 18, when the corporation lost its appeal of a lower court ruling requiring their compliance with the subpoena. The corporation argued it was immune to U.S. subpoenas under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, since their firm is owned by a foreign government. They also sought relief under a federal rule allowing courts to suppress subpoenas if compliance would be “unreasonable or oppressive.” In this instance, the…

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NBC Suggests Jill Stein Played A Part In A Russian Conspiracy To Beat Clinton

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by Chris White   NBC News believes that failed presidential candidate Jill Stein might have inadvertently played a substantial role in what some media believe is a Russian conspiracy to defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency worked diligently to bolster Stein’s campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election, NBC reported Saturday. The outlet analyzed a Dec. 17 report commissioned by the Senate that detailed the extent of the IRA’s role in the election. An NBC analysis found that Russians working under the direction of the troll farm tweeted the phrase “Jill Stein” more than 1,000 times during the election. The report, which was conducted by the New Knowledge cybersecurity firm, found the campaign targeted mostly black Americans. Clint Watts, an NBC News analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told reporters that Russia’s decision to lean in toward Stein should not be that surprising. NBC reviewed archives of RT and Sputnik, which the CIA believes are Russian propaganda, and found more than 100 stories supporting Stein. “Is Stein a fellow traveler or a useful idiot?” he asked, rhetorically. “I don’t know, but even after the election she played into Russia disinformation by pursuing a…

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Steve Cohen Celebrates People on Welfare Not Having to Work

Chris Butler

After a lot of debate, certain food stamp recipients won’t have to work for their benefits, as certain Republicans in Washington, D.C. wanted. And for U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, that’s a cause for celebration. “On Wednesday, I voted for and the House passed a five-year Farm Bill that protects food assistance, conservation and animal welfare policies that are priorities for residents of the 9th Congressional District,” Cohen said in a newsletter last week to his constituents back home. “We successfully blocked efforts by the Majority to impose punishing work requirements for food stamp recipients.” But were those work requirements really punishing, especially in exchange for taxpayer money? According to The Huffington Post, more than 38 million Americans receive monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits they can use only to buy food in grocery stores. “The program already has work requirements for the subset of recipients who are able-bodied adults without minor children,” according to the website. “The House bill would have applied the requirements to parents of children older than 6 and unemployed adults in their 50s, who had previously been exempt.” According to The Washington Post, the House and Senate deadlocked over multiple issues in the bill, including the work requirements. Those…

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Quantum Computing and Its Threat to Cybersecurity

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by Dorothy Denning   Cybersecurity researchers and analysts are rightly worried that a new type of computer, based on quantum physics rather than more standard electronics, could break most modern cryptography. The effect would be to render communications as insecure as if they weren’t encoded at all. Fortunately, the threat so far is hypothetical. The quantum computers that exist today are not capable of breaking any commonly used encryption methods. Significant technical advances are required before they will be able to break the strong codes in widespread use around the internet, according to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences. Still, there is cause for concern. The cryptography underpinning modern internet communications and e-commerce could someday succumb to a quantum attack. To understand the risk and what can be done about it, it’s important to look more closely at digital cryptography and how it’s used – and broken. Cryptography basics Y At its most basic, encryption is the act of taking an original piece of information – a message, for instance – and following a series of steps to transform it into something that looks like gibberish. Today’s digital ciphers use complex mathematical formulas to transform clear data…

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Despite Years of Effort From Activists, Chick-Fil-A Poised to Become Third Largest Fast Food Chain

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by Grace Carr   Despite ongoing criticism from activists, fast food chain Chick-fil-A is projected to become the third-largest restaurant chain in the U.S., according to an analysis from Kalinowski Equity Research. The fast food chicken chain will rise from its seventh-place spot to rank as the third-largest U.S. restaurant chain by 2018’s close, according to the group’s research, Business Insider reported. “We have long pointed out that Chick-fil-A is the restaurant competitor with which McDonald’s … should most concern itself — and by extension, investors should, too,” analyst Mark Kalinowski wrote in his report. “But this goes beyond McDonald’s,” Kalinowski noted. Kalinowski previously predicted the chain would assume the third-place spot in sales by 2020, but changed his forecast in April to 2019, Business Insider reported. Chick-fil-A’s sales will have risen between 12 and 15 percent by the end of 2018, amounting to an over $1 billion increase in sales, according to Business Insider. Chick-fil-A sales increased by 14.2 percent in 2017, Restaurant Business reported. McDonald’s and Starbucks claim the number one and two spots for restaurant chain sales in the U.S., respectively. Subway ranks third followed by Taco Bell, Burger King and Wendy’s, according to Business Insider. “If this plays out this way, Chick-fil-A’s 2018 U.S.…

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The Humble Origins of Silent Night

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by Sarah Eyerly   One of the world’s most famous Christmas carols, “Silent Night,” celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. Over the centuries, hundreds of Christmas carols have been composed. Many fall quickly into obscurity. Not “Silent Night.” Translated into at least 300 languages, designated by UNESCO as a treasured item of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and arranged in dozens of different musical styles, from heavy metal to gospel, “Silent Night” has become a perennial part of the Christmas soundscape. Its origins – in a small Alpine town in the Austrian countryside – were far humbler. As a musicologist who studies historical traditions of song, the story of “Silent Night” and its meteoric rise to worldwide fame has always fascinated me. Fallout from war and famine The song’s lyrics were originally written in German just after the end of the Napoleonic Wars by a young Austrian priest named Joseph Mohr. In the fall of 1816, Mohr’s congregation in the town of Mariapfarr was reeling. Twelve years of war had decimated the country’s political and social infrastructure. Meanwhile, the previous year – one historians would later dub “The Year Without a Summer” – had been catastrophically cold. The eruption of Indonesia’s Mount…

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Transgender Woman Wins Legal Battle Against All-Female Minnesota Football Team

Anthony Gockowski

A transgender woman was awarded $20,000 in damages last week by a Dakota County jury who found that the Minnesota Vixen female football team had wrongfully discriminated against the plaintiff. Christina Ginther, who underwent gender-reassignment surgery to transition from a man to a woman, was prevented from playing on the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL) team after teammates discovered that Ginther is transgender. According to MPR, an attorney representing the Minnesota Vixen argued that league rules state that “a player may not play in the IWFL, unless they are now, and always have been, legally and medically a female, as determined by their birth certificate and driver’s license.” Ginther first went public with the story in March 2017 after filing a discrimination lawsuit against the Minnesota Vixen, owner Laura Brown, and the IWFL. “She said, ‘Well, your numbers were good. But in the process of drawing up player contracts, we looked at your social media and found out that you’re transgender,” Ginther recalled Brown saying. “I hung up the phone and just felt violated,” Ginther said. “I mean, just the sense of, ‘I’m a freak. I’m a defective. I am not worthy to be with this team.’” Ginther later joined…

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Minnesota Lawmakers Respond Feverishly to Border Wall Shutdown

Anthony Gockowski

It was a wild week in Washington, which gave Minnesota’s politicians ample opportunity to attack President Donald Trump. In a Friday appearance on The Dan Obeidallah Show, Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) said Trump’s border wall “is deeply rooted in xenophobia.” “If Trump shuts down the government: 420,000 Americans will be forced to work without pay over the holidays. 380,000 will be furloughed. 30 million small businesses will lose access to loans,” she later wrote on Twitter. “All of this, over a wall that Americans don’t want. A wast of billions of dollars.” If Trump shuts down the government: 420,000 Americans will be forced to work without pay over the holidays. 380,000 will be furloughed. 30 million small businesses will lose access to loans. All of this, over a wall that Americans don’t want. A waste of billions of dollars. — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 21, 2018 “Hey GOP, your incompetency is mind numbing, three shutdowns in one year. For the sake of the American people, get it together or get out of the way,” Omar wrote on Saturday. Hey @GOP, your incompetency is mind numbing, three #shutdowns in one year. For the sake of the American people, get it together…

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Kasich Vetoes Bill Expanding Benefits for Families of Fallen First Responders

Anthony Gockowski

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) vetoed a bill Friday that would expand benefits for widows and children of deceased first responders because it also included legislative pay raises. According to The Dayton Daily News, Senate Bill 296 included a provision that would increase pay for lawmakers by 4 percent in 2020, 3 percent in 2021, and then 1.75 percent each subsequent year until 2028. That provision, however, was tacked on at the list minute, and provided Kasich with reason to veto the legislation. The main intention of the bill was to increase benefits for families of first responders killed while on duty, which could be passed again next session and signed into law by Gov.-elect Mike DeWine (R-OH). “I would have signed such a bill into law,” Kasich told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “Unfortunately, I cannot support or condone the last-minute rush to include a controversial pay raise for elected officials into what was an otherwise commendable bill.” State Sen. Jay Hottinger (R-Newark) believes Kasich vetoed the bill out of frustration with the General Assembly for failing to pass a “red flag” law. “What I find ironic is there have been a heck of a lot of lawmakers doing work while…

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Ohio Gov. Kasich Signs a Bill Outlawing Abortion Method That Dismembers Unborn Babies

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by Grace Carr   Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill Friday banning dilation and evacuation abortions, common second-trimester abortion methods. Senate Bill 145 prohibits doctors from performing dilation and evacuation abortions, an abortion method used when women are between 13 and 24 weeks pregnant. Dilation abortion involves tearing the fetus apart limb by limb so that the body parts can be extracted from the womb. The law makes exceptions for cases where the mother’s life is in danger. No exceptions for rape, incest or fetal abnormalities are included in the bill, Fox31 reported Saturday. “The method ban dangerously limits people’s options, undermines patients’ constitutional right to access safe, legal abortion, and compromises medical providers’ decision making,” Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio president Iris Harvey said in a statement, according to Fox31. Pro-life Ohioans applaud the new law. “Ohioans can sleep easier tonight, knowing that the horrendous practice of dismemberment abortions is behind us,” said Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis, Fox31 reported. Thank you Governor @JohnKasich for passing this law which will protect Ohio’s babies from being barbarically dismembered in the womb. #EndDismemberment — Ohio Right to Life (@ohiolife) December 21, 2018 The ban on dismemberment abortions comes after Kasich vetoed…

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President Trump Shut Down Government In ‘Contrived Fight’ Over Border Wall, Corker Says

Jason M. Reynolds

Retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) set off a Twitter fight with President Donald Trump after saying he shut the government down to pick a fight “to look like he’s fighting” over the border wall. Corker made the remark Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper. The video is available to watch here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_urlv_UoC8Q “This is a purposely contrived fight, over … at the end of the day, even no matter who wins, our borders are still going to be insecure,” Corker said. He mentioned that in 2013, he and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) created a $46 billion border security bill that passed the Senate with 69 votes that called for more border security, including fencing, as well as create a path to grant green cards to illegal immigrants. (The International Business Times said the vote was 67-27.) Corker also said Trump could have received $25 billion for border security a few months ago and resolve the “Dreamer” issue. “Now, the government is shut down over what ultimately is going to be $2 billion.” Corker also mentioned he had promised to only serve two terms and criticized the administration’s decisions to pull troops from Syria…

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